Ointment depositors



Nov. 22, 1955 M. L, LOCKHART 2,724,385

OINTMENT DEPOSITORS Filed Jan. 19, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 g =2 3 /36 V Z523) ii: 25

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Nov. 22, 1955 Filed Jan. 19, 1953 M. L. LOCKHART OINTMENT DEPOSITORS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Wilma Wm 104M! ATTORN EYST United States Patent Ofifice2,724,385 Patented Nov. 22, 1955 OINTMENT DEPOSITORS Marshall L.Lockhart, Rutherford, N. J., assignor to The Compule Corporation,Rutherford, N. 5., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 19,1953, Serial No. 331,940

10 Claims. (Cl. 128-261) The present invention relates to ointmentdepositors of the type disclosed in Jones No. 2,616,422 and, moreparticularly, to such devices adapted as containers to house quantitiesof medicated jelly or cream and viscous ointments and as applicators toeject the contents internally.

A general object of the present invention is to provide such: devices intheform of plunger ejectors which may be readily and economicallyconstructed on amass basis; permitting effective use as single-usedisposables while being of such sturdy and simple construction'as toallow efiicient reuse, particularly since they are easily cleaned andsterilized and permit ready personal recharging.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide such anejector in the formof a barrel equipped with a simple plunger whichpermits ready escape of air when the barrel is being loaded with viscoussubstance,

simple but unique means being provided to prevent accidental withdrawalof the plunger from the barrel.

A further object of the invention is to provide structural embodimentsof the device which may be readily constructed and allow efiicient useand operation thereof.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which will beexemplified in. the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of. theinventiomreference should be had to the followingdetailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which; c

Fig. 1 is a plan view, with parts broken away and in section,.of athree-piece assembly to be distributed as a kihand including anembodiment of. the depositor of the present invention as a two-partdevice, consisting of a barrel and a plunger; 3 t

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, with parts broken away and in section, ofthe assembly of Fig. 1, showing the parts assembled together and thebarrell being charged or loaded with ointment;

Fig.6 is an axial section of the barrel illustrated in Figs 1. and Z, asloaded for depositor use-by theFig. 2 procedure, and showing in:elevation the plunger mounted inithe back end of the barrellready forexpulsive ejection of the barrel contents, the parts being shownsubstantially to. the scale thereof asproduced for commercial distribu-.tion;

Fig, 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 4- 4 of. Fig.3,.and showing. the back end of the barrel in elevation;. t t Fig.5 is aplan view of the depositor shown in Fig. 3, with parts broken away andin section, andillustrat- .ing expulsion of barrel contents withejective forward t thrust of the plunger; t

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a modified form of plunger; Fig; 7 is anenlarged sectional view takensubstantially Fig. 8 is a view similar toFig. 1 of the parts of a different type of kit in which the depositorbarrel is supplied in preloaded condition, and may constitute adisposable embodiment with a plurality of the loaded barrels preferablybeing supplied with one reuseable plunger;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 5 of the structural embodimentdepicted in Figs. 8 and 9;

Fig. 11 is an axial section illustrating one step of the barrel loadingprocedure as may be performed in a factory for the production of thepreloaded barrel illustrated in Fig. 8;

Fig. 12 is an axial section, with barrel closing plugs in plan,illustrating the last step of the factory loading procedure; and

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section, with parts broken away, of the backsection of a modified form of barrel with the piston portion of theplunger shown in plan, illustrating a modified form for venting air pastthe retracted piston during loading.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numerals identify similar partsthroughout, it will be seen from Figs. 1 to 5 incl. that an embodimentof the present invention may comprise a barrel unit and a plunger unit21. The barrel unit 20 is preferably molded from plastic material; andconstitutes an elongated, substantially cylindrical tube having a bore22 extending to an orifice section 23 at one end, preferably of reducedinside diameter and internally threaded, as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 5.The reduced orifice section 23 provides an internal shoulder 24 to serveas a plunger thrust travel stop. The internal threads 25 of the orificesection 23 are adapted threadably to receive an externally threaded orelastic closing plug, as hereinafter described, or the external threadson a supply fixture or tube, such as the externally threaded neck 26 ofa collapsible tube 27 in which a supply of jelly, ointment or cream maybe housed, as will be more fully explained hereinafter in connectionwith Fig. 2. t

The bore 22 of barrel 29 is open at the other end 28 and carries thereina laterally-projecting protuberance 29 preferably in the form of a smalltransverse rib, as in dicated in Figs. 2 and 4, and preferably is madeintegral with the barrel 20 thereby being elastic and deformable whenthe barrel is molded from elastic plastic, such as polyethylene. The rib29 is adapted to serve as stop means to prevent accidental dropout ofthe plunger 21, aswhereinafter more fully explained. The back end 28 ofbarrel 20 carriesexternally thereon apair of diametrically-opposed,laterally-extending, finger-engaging wings 30, 30, preferably moldedintegral with the barrel, and the structure thereof readily will beunderstood from Figs. 2, 3 and 4. t

In the preferred form, the piston plunger 21 preferably comprises anelongated stem 31 carrying a. thrust knob 32 on one endthereof and onthe other end 'a pair of transversely-extending, longitudinally spacedpiston discs 33 and 34. The head end of the pistonplunger 21 whichcarries the longitudinally-spaced discs 33 and 34 constitutes pistonhead means in the form of a spool structure annularly cut back toanappreciable depth between the discs to provide between the latter a freewide groove. Preferably, the piston plunger 21 is formed as a unitarystructure of rigid plastic, such as polystyrene, from which it may bemolded. An end portion 35' of stem of limited length extends beyond theouter or forward piston disc 34 to form an ejecting, orifice-clearingprojec tion, as willbe explained in connection with Fig. 5. Theemployment of a plurality of piston discs on the plunger stem 31 isadvantageous, not only for" guidance but also to assure .efiiciency inexpulsion of contentsof the barrel.

1 disc 34.

However, the end or forward disc 34 functions chiefly-to sive backleakage.

It will be noted from Fig. 5 that adjacent the thrust travel stopshoulder 24, the diameter of the bore 22 is substantially equal to thediameter of the forward piston In commercial embodiments, the pistondisc 34 actually is of slightly larger diameter than the bore 22 at thatpoint to assure maximum efiiciency in expulsion of barrel contents. Thisover-size of the piston means is permitted by virtue of the fact thatthe barrel walls are elastic so as to swell slightly adjacent theorifice section 23 to permit the piston disc 34 to he thrust up thereto.This, of course, would also be permitted should the plunger 21 be formedof elastic plastic and the barrel 20 be molded of relatively rigidplastic or, conversely, if both the barrel and the plunger were formedof plastic having at least some elasticity. It is preferred, however, toform the plunger of relatively rigid plastic to avoid undue fiexure ofthe relatively slender plunger stem 31 during ejecting thrust thereof.

Means are provided to vent air from the barrel bore 22 while the pistonsection of the plunger 21 is in the re tracted position, as illustratedin Fig. 3, and while still housed in the barrel during loading of thebarrel with viscous jelly, ointment or cream. Preferably air-ventingclearance between the piston means, comprising discs 33 and 34, and thebore wall in the retracted position of the piston means is provided byslight taper of the bore 22 so that the bore walls converge at leastfrom the back section 36 of the barrel, which defines the retractedposition of the plunger, toward the reduced orifice section 23. Section36 readily may be defined in the molding of the barrel 20 by a slightthickening of the barrel wall therein to form a small circumferentialshoulder 37 to serve as a loading line. Accordingly, when the plunger isin the retracted position, illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, such clearancepermits air to be vented past the piston discs 33 and 34 out of the openend 28 of the barrel 20 as a body 38 of viscous substance is injected orloaded into the bore 22 through the reduced orifice section 23.Preferably, the barrel bore 22 is tapered throughout from the open end28 to the shoulder 24, particularly since that simplifies moldingprocedure and provides relief for ready withdrawal of the molding core.The diameter of the open end 28 of the barrel 20 is approximately 0.412"while the diameter of the bore at the shoulder 24 is approximately 0.407in the structure illustrated substantially to scale in Fig. 3 whereinshoulder 24 is about 4 from the open end 28. Of course, other suitablemeans may be provided for by-passing the piston means with the air inthe barrel during loading when the piston means is located in theretracted section 36, as will be more fully explained hereinafter inconnection with Fig. 13.

Commercially, a kit including an embodiment of the present invention maybe marketed, which comprises one barrel 20, one plunger 21 and acollapsible tube 27 of viscous substance as illustrated in Fig. 1. Inthe use of such a kit, one will unscrew the cap 39 from the externallythreaded neck 26 of the collapsible tube 27 and threadably engage theneck into the internally threaded orifice section 23 of the barrel 20.The plunger 21 will be thrust into the open end 28 of the barrel 20 tothe retracted position, illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, with the pistondiscs 33 and 34 successively passing the dropoutlimiting stopprotuberance 29 with deformation thereof. Squeezing of the side walls ofthe collapsible tube 27 in the directions of the arrows 39, 39, shown inFig. 2, will discharge viscous substance from the tube into the barrelbore 22 with simultaneous venting of the barrel-contained air past thepiston means due to the air-venting clearance thereat resulting from thetapering of the bore 22. With the piston disc 34 located at the loadline 37, a charge 38 of viscous substance of predetermined quantity,suitable for an application, may be loaded into the barrel bore 22, asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Thereafter, the body 38 of viscoussubstance may be discharged from the barrel in depository operation ofthe device through the orifice section 23, as illustrated in Fig. 5, byforward thrust of the plunger 21, which may be accomplished by onesindex finger with the thumb and middle finger located behind the fingerwings 30, 30 of the barrel. I

It will be noted from Fig. 5 that during this ejection of the barrelcontents, the stem projection 35 moves into the orifice to expeltherefrom the major portion of the contained viscous substance so as toassure delivery of practically all of the charge, thereby reducingwastage and assuring application of a predetermined quantity of viscoussubstance. During the time intervening the loading of the barrel, asillustrated in Fig. 2, manipulatory positioning of the device may beaccompanied by orientation of the barrel 20 tending to permit theplunger 21 to drop out of the open end 28 thereof. Such undesirabledropout of the plunger 21 is prevented by the stop protuberance 29.

It has been mentioned that, due to the slenderness of the plunger stem31, the unitary plunger structure 21 is preferably made or molded fromrelatively rigid plastic. As illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the plungerstem may be strengthened by fluting the same, as at 40-40. However, itis to be understood that no limitation is to be inferred from apreferential use of such fiuting of the plunger stem 31.

The embodiment of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 incl., may bemarketed in another type of kit, wherein a plurality of preloadedbarrels are supplied with a single plunger unit. One such preloadedbarrel and the plunger unit 21 is illustrated in Fig. 8. For such a kit,the barrels are factory loaded by fitting the orifice section 23 of eachthereof to a suitable loading fixture, such as that diagrammaticallyillustrated, by way of example, at 41 in Fig. 11. Each barrel will beloaded substantially to its load line 37, and a suitable closing pistonplug will be inserted in the open end 28 of the barrel. This may bereadily accomplished as illustrated in Fig. 12, by closing off thedischarged orifice after removal of the fixture 41 with a suitableclosing plug 42, which may be of elastic rubber composition, preferablyprovided with a pre-threaded shank 43 threadably to be engaged with theinternal threads 25 of the orifice. However, if desired, the shank ofthe plug may be unthreaded and of such over-sized diameter as to bedeformable into the orifice threads with forcible insertion of the plugin the threaded orifice.

Such closing of the discharge end 23 of the barrel 120 will then permitthe insertion through the open end 28 of another closing plug which, ifprovided with elastic ribs or other highly flexible contacting means,will permit air-venting therepast with deformation. For example, anelastic piston plug 44, such as that illustrated in Figs. 8, 10 and 12may be molded from a rubber composition having silicon content, and inthe form of a cylindrical body having a pair of axially spaced, thin,circumferential ribs 45, 45, each of a diameter slightly larger than thediameter of the bore 22 in the retracted section 36 thereof, so that itmay efliciently serve as a piston for ejection of the barrel contents.The flexibility of the ribs 45, 45 will permit their deformation duringinsertion of the piston plug 44 into the barrel bore 22 to allow the airin retracted section 36 to be vented from the barrel to produce thepreloaded unit 120, illustrated in Fig. 8.

One may select one of the preloaded barrels 120 from the kit and fit theplunger unit 21 therein in the manner illustrated in 9, with theprojecting tip 35 of the plunger stern being received ina socket 46inthe back endof piston plug 44. Thebarrel contentsmay then be ejected,-asillustrated in Fig. 10, in a manner similar .to the ejectingoperationillustrated in Fig. 5, with the difference that the forwardpiston plug rib 45 engages against the stop shoulder 24, and with theforward end 47 of the piston plug serving as an ejecting,orifice-clearing projection, as illustrated in Fig. 10. j

InFig. l3 is illustrated a; modified form of. barrelstructure,-whichis--provided with air-venting means in a sectionadjacent its open end defining a retracted position of pistonhea'dmeans. Such air-venting means is provided in the form of anenlargement of the piston-retract- :ed bore section, preferably in thenature of an elongated, longitudinally-extending, narrow groove 48molded into the sideof the barrelsection -36 and extendingtherebeyondpastloadline 37 soas to bleed air from the barrel ahead ofthepiston means in itsretracted position when the bore 22 of barrelt-220 isbeing loaded with viscous substance. However, due to the simplicity ofand economy in rnanufacture, the form of thebarrel illustrated ill-Figs.lto 5 incl., and 8 to 12 incl. is preferred.

Elastic and relatively rigid synthetic resins or plastic materials whichmay beused to advantage from which to mold or otherwise form the barreland plunger units of the present device may be selected from those whichare compatible with the intended jelly, ointment or cream -contents, andnot contaminable of body tissue. These :are,-byway of-example, ethylcellulose, cellulose acetate,

types, such as natural gum, rubber hydrochloride and eoprene and othermaterials having similar;properties.

.Itiis preferred to employ a polyethylene as the elastic plastic and apolystyrene as the relatively rigid plastic in view of thenon-contaminable, compatible and physical properties thereof, as wellasifrom an economy point of View since embodiments. of: the presentinvention are intended to be marketed as disposables at least withrespect to the barrel units thereof. Preferably, an elastic plastic isused in the construction of one of the barrel and plunger units when theother is made from relatively rigid plastic since thus the parts neednot be made to close tolerances, although it is possible to form boththe barrel and plunger of elastic plastic, such as polyethylene. Aspointed out above, preferably the barrel is molded from polyethylene andthe plunger is made from polystyrene. When closing and piston plugs areemployed for plugging preloaded, disposable barrels, they may be formedof natural gum rubber or other suitable elastic material, such as arubber-like composition containing silicon, etc., and particularly thoseof relatively low cost.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above construction anddifferent embodiments of the invention could be made without departingfrom the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements ot the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In an ointment depositor an elongated barrel of molded plastic havinga bore provided with a reduced section at one end to form an ejectingorifice of lesser diameter, said reduced orifice section beinginternally threaded; the other end of said barrel being openandexternally carrying integral, laterally-projecting, fingerengagingmeans;'the walls of the bore of said barrel being slightly taperedconvergingly from said open endto said orifice section whereby pistonmeans closelyfittablein the bore adjacent said orifice section will haveair-venting clearance with the bore adjacent said open end.

2. The barrel structure as defined in claim 1 characterized by theprovision of a laterally-projecting stop means in said bore adjacent thelarger open endthereof to limit retraction of piston means therein.

3. The barrel structure as defined in claim 2 characterized by said stopmeansbeing a small. integral projection onthe bore walls with saidbarrel structure being of molded elastic plastic, the elasticity of saidstop'projection permitting piston means readily to be pushed therepastinto the bore while avoiding dropout.

4. In an ointment depositor having an elongated barrel receivable ofejecting piston means, a piston plunger comprising an elongated stemhaving a thrust knob on one end and a pair of axially-spacedpiston discson the other end, said stem and said discs constituting a spoolstructure annularly out back to an appreciabledepth between said discsto provide between the latter a free and relatively wide annular groove,said stern having a substanfeature of said one-piece plastic pistonplunger being formed of molded rigid plastic.

7. An ointment depositor comprising, in combination, an elongated barrelof molded elastic plastic having'a bore provided with a major section ofa certain average diameterand a reduced section at one end to form anejectin orifice of lesser diameter, said reduced orifice section beinginternally threaded; the other end of said barrelbeing open andexternally carrying integral, laterally-projecting, finger-engagingmeans; the walls of the bore of said barrel being slightly taperedconvergingly from said open end to said orifice section whereby pistonmeans closely fittable in the bore adjacent said orifice section willhave air-venting clearance with the bore in a retracted section adjacentsaid open end; a piston plunger comprising an elongated stern ofrelatively rigid plastic having an integral thrust knob on one end and apair of axially-spaced, integral piston discs on the other end slidablymounted in said bore with at least the leading disc being of a diameterclosely approaching the average diameter of the barrel bore majorsection for relatively close sliding fit therein; said stem having anend portion of limited length extending beyond the outer disc to form anejecting, orifice-clearing projection receivable in said orifice sectionwithout projecting out of the latter; and a relatively small,laterally-projecting protuberance mounted on the bore wall adjacent theopen end of said barrel and formed integral with the latter to havesufiicient elasticity to permit said. piston discs to be pushed forwardinto said bore past said protuberance while serving to prevent plungerdropout.

8. An ointment depositor comprising, in combination, an elongated,cylindrical barrel having a bore terminating in an ejecting orifice atone end and being open at its other end; an ejecting piston head meansslidably mounted in said bore and of certain diameter to expel barrelcontents when thrust forward; said barrel bore being in the vicinity ofthe ejecting orifice of a diameter similar to that of said piston headmeans, and having a section adjacent its open end defining a retractedposition of said piston head means with said piston-retracted sectionbeing enlarged to provide air-venting clearance when said piston headmeans is retracted to this section;

said piston-retracted bore section to engage and term porarily to holdsaid piston head means in this section,

at least one of said stop and piston head means being formed of elasticmaterial to permit forced passage of said piston head means past saidstop means into said bore, said stop means being located behind andserving to prevent accidental drop-out of the piston head means.

9. An ointment depositor comprising, in combination; an elongated,cylindrical barrel structure of plastic material having some elasticity,said barrel structure having a bore terminating at one end in aninternally-threaded ejecting orifice and being open at the other endwith a portion of the latter defining a piston-retracted section; anejecting piston plunger of relatively rigid plastic material comprisingan elongated stern having a thrust knob on one end and an elongated headend structure mounted on the other end of said stem with said head endstructure slidably mounted in said piston-retracted section of saidbore, said piston head end structure comprising at least a pair ofappreciably axially-spaced piston discs connected together axially by astern portion of appreciable length to provide between said discs atleast one free and relatively wide and deep annular groove, said discsbeing of diameters as to fit slidably in said bore close enough to thewalls thereof as to assure expulsion of most of the barrel structurecontents; and stop means integral with and forming apart of said barrelstructure located in the back end of said piston-retracted bore sectionbehind said plunger head end structure extending laterally-inward arelatively short distance, said stop means reducing to a limited degreethe size of the bore thereat and extending into the path of the plungerhead end structure temporarily to hold the latter in this section toprevent accidental drop-out, the elasticity of said barrel structurepermitting forced passage of said piston head end structure past saidstop means to facilitate mounting and dismounting of said head endstructure into and out of said piston-retracted section of said bore.

10. An ointment depositor comprising, in combination, an elongatedbarrel of molded elastic plastic having a major section of a certainaverage diameter and, a reduced section at one end to form anejectingorifice of lesser diameter, said reduced orifice section beinginternally threaded; the other back end of said barrel externallycarrying an integral enlargement for finger engagement; a closing plugmeans removably fitted in the internally threaded orifice section; anelastic piston plug slidably fitted in the back end of said barrel witha'quantity of ointment housed in said bore between said plugs, saidpiston plug having a socket in the back end thereof and anorifice-clearing projection on the front end thereof; a piston plungercomprising an elongated stem of relatively rigid plastic having anintegral thrust knob on one end with its other end engaged in the pistonplug socket, said stem having disc means thereon of a diameter to beslidable in said bore and located axially back of said piston plug at anappreciable distance to serve with the latter as guiding means assuringmaintenance of substantial coaxial relationship between said bore andstem; and stop means integral with said barrel located in the back endof the latter extending laterally-inward a relatively short distance,said stop means reducing to a limited degree the size of the borethereat and extending into the path of said guiding disc meanstemporarily to hold said plunger in said bore with location of said discmeans forward of said stop means to prevent accidental drop-out, theelasticity of said barrel permitting forced passage of said disc meanspast said stop means to facilitate mounting and dismounting of saidplunger into and out of said bore.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GreatBritain Apr. 6, 1937

1. IN AN OINTMENT DEPOSITOR AN ELONGATED BARREL OF MOLDED PLASTIC HAVINGA BORE PROVIDED WITH A REDUCED SECTION AT ONE END TO FORM AN EJECTINGORIFICE OF LESSER DIAMETER, SAID REDUCED ORIFICE SECTION BEINGINTERNALLY THREADED; THE OTEHR END OF SAID BARREL BEING OPEN ANDEXTERNALLY CARRYING INTEGRAL, LATERALLY-PROJECTING, FINGERENGAGINGMEANS; THE WALLS OF THE BORE OF SAID BARREL BEING SLIGHTLY TAPEREDCONVERGINGLY FROM SAID OPEN BARREL BEING ORIFICE SECTION WHEREBY PISTONMEANS CLOSELY FITTABLE IN THE BORE ADJACENT SAID ORIFICE SECTION WILLHAVE AIR-VENTING CLEARANCE WITH THE BORE ADJACENT SAID OPEN END.